Push to end Stormont stand-off

Leo Varadkar said the Irish government was willing to table proposals to get power-sharing off the ground in the NorthNIALL CARSON/PA

The Irish government will help to table proposals to break the political deadlock in Northern Ireland, Leo Varadkar announced last night.

The taoiseach gave a keynote speech on the Good Friday agreement at Capitol Hill in Washington in which he called for a “redoubled effort” after Easter to get a power-sharing agreement up and running.

Mr Varadkar offered an olive branch to Unionists, saying that recent statements and actions by Irish nationalists, including the Irish government, about Brexit had been received as “unwelcome or intrusive. If that is the case, I want to make it clear that it certainly was not our intention. I want to repeat that we have no hidden agenda.”

Mr Varadkar suggested the Irish government might make new proposals to get…